Startup: Domino Fire

We don’t normally put real news up here, but the “Oh look cool” factor was too much to ignore. In Lampasas County, Texas, and old train bridge caught fire. Decades of coal dust, oil, and other flammable materials on the ancient wooden structure spread the fire the entire length of the bridge and the fire department was helpless to stop it. Check the video after the jump to watch as the collapse of a single trestle causes the whole thing to go down like dominoes.

The fire appears to be very evenly spread along the bridge. Fire trucks are there, engines running, but not yet doing anything–hoses are rolled up and they are a safe distance away from the action. There sounds like a 1-2-3 countdown before the bridge falls, and then when it goes like dominoes right before the end of the video, there is cheering.

I suspect this might have been a controlled burn, perhaps as a demolition of an outdated structure no longer capable of safely carrying the weight of a loaded freight train..

That bridge is on a branch line serving Brady, TX. There's a good chance that a trainset or two is now stranded on the Brady side. The operator just completed bankruptcy proceedings, so I really doubt that bridge will be rebuilt. I wonder what will happen to that equipment. How does one remove a stranded locomotive? In pieces? Can it be done non-destructively?